Blog Assignment 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate

The first assignment for the blog post this week was to watch this awesome video!  In the video it asks a simple questions as the title suggests.  It gives the dictionary definition of the word teacher. Then, in contrast, for the words educator, mentor, and guide.  I don't want to give it all away, so go watch the video.

I thought this video was very compelling.  It inspired me to think of being an educator not as a job, but as a way of life.  I want to be that teacher, you know that one.  The one that when my students look back at high school or middle school they think "Man, he was awesome." or "That guy really helped me, a lot."  I feel like in order to be that I can't just have a job that I go to and teach at.  I have to be an educator.  I have to be better than just an informant.  The video ends with a quote from Socrates that I liked a lot. "Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a flame."

Tom Johnson's "Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home"

I love blogs like this!  In this post Mr. Johnson takes inspiration from a few experiences he's either been a part of or had a colleague relay to him.  He creates a post in the the style of Hemingway's "Hills like White Elephants" in that it is only dialogue and and there is no description.  It is a rather candid back and fourth between him and Gertrude, the School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialist, about not letting the children take the pencils home because she says it will lower test scores.  It is very well written and you should read it for yourself!

Did I already say that I love blogs like this, because if you hadn't already caught on to that it bears repeating.  I love blogs like this!  It is well written, there's sarcasm, and there's a message.  The message I gathered as I read was there's no use focusing on what is the cause of the problem without offering to provide a solution.  I am definitely going to read more from Mr. Johnson's blog.  Consider me subscribed.  Great stuff! 

C4T post 3

For this month's C4T assignment I have been given Kathy Cassidy's blog "Primary Preoccupation."  The first post I commented on is titled "Cultivating Connections the Primary Way."  In this post Mrs. Cassidy talks about using Skype and other blogging tools in her first grad classroom.  She says that these mediums of communication really excited and engage the children.  She goes on to say that getting feedback from different people around the world and around the country lends it's self to learning more because it sparks the children's curiosity.  It is a really great post and I am sure that I will use these tools in my classroom, but probably in a different way because I am going to be teaching secondary education.

My comment: "This is a great post!  I am currently enrolled in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.  This is exactly what we are learning about.  Using these forms of communication to spark excitement and creativity in our future students.  Thanks for giving examples and letting me see it in action."

The second post I commented on from Mrs. Cassidy's blog was titled "Students Posting Online: How Do You Do That?"  In this blog post Mrs. Cassidy talks about getting parents permission to have their young children posting things on the internet.  She goes through and explains exactly what it is they do, how the children are protected, and then executing the plan.  It turns out that it is a very safe process and she has a very thought out system in place.  Go read this blog! It is really good, especially if you are an elementary education major.  She's got a lot of good advice!

My Comment: "Hi, I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.  I really found your blog very helpful.  It is concerning having young children on the interent.  Your post really showed me how to execute a program that would allow me to do that.  I really enjoy reading what you have to say. Thanks."

Blog Assignment 9

Joe McClung - What I Have Learned This Year

For this weeks blog assignment we are to read two post's from Joe McClung's blog "At the Teacher's Desk."  Two specific posts about what he learned in his first three years of teaching year by year, there are three separate posts. In this blog I will discuss two of the years, I chose the first two, but I read all three.

After his first year of teaching Mr. McClung says that he learned a "TON" of things.  He talks about the importance of communication in the workplace and with students.  He also says that listening to the students is very important.  More than just hearing the students but actually listening to them.  He says that hels build a needed student-teacher relationship which leads to getting respect.  Of course he stresses the importance of using technology in the classroom and encourages people to not be scared of technology.  He also talks about being reasonable as it pertains to our expectations of students.  He also stresses flexibility and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

I really got a lot out of this blog post.  It is nice to hear what someone has to say about what they have learned about teaching in their first year.  I will be a first year teacher soon enough and I know that this advice will help me out a lot.  I definitely have bookmarked this post for me to read again at another time.  I thought his advice was very practical and easy to relate to.

In his second summary of "What I Learned this Year" Mr. McClung discusses everything in much further detail.  It is about twice as long as the first year's blog.  Which would lead me to believe that you learn a lot from every year.  Which I am excited about.  Well this year Mr. McClung has moved to a different school district and is teaching new subjects, which has presented a number of challenges.  In this post he gives advice about adapting, making boring things exciting, and selling what you're teaching to the students.  He also says, which I found amusing and helpful, to find the school mom.  What he means by that is to find the teachers who know the goings-on of the place and can really help you out.  Some of the other topics covered are about not being a controle freak and keeping scope of what is important.

I got a lot of good advice from this article.  I don't know how much I will be able to relate to having to change subjects so drastically as he had to, but I know that I will have to adapt.  I also know that I will have to seek out help because I'm sure I will be no different than every first year teacher, ambitious and drowning.  I saved this post as well.  Advice from experience is priceless.     

Project 13 - SmartBoard

Project 12 - Book Trailer - The Sneetches - Dr. Suess

Project 11 - Short Movie - Why I Want to be a Teacher

Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream - Parts 1 and 2 by Dr. Richard E. Miller


In part one Dr. Miller talks about how the way we teach and present information has changed.  He first talks about books, that they were printed on paper, written by one author, and stored in a library.  He goes on to say that form of publication and presentation is becoming irrelevant.  He then presents the new way in which publications are being presented.  Due to the technology available today world wide communication is possible instantaneously.  This allows for collaboration and also more enhanced documents to be readily available to anyone with an internet connection.  He talks about a transfer from documents solely containing printed words and static pictures to documents that contain print and also video and sound.  Allowing for a more stimulated learning experience for the reader and also allowing for more people to view the document because it is stored forever on the internet.

In the second part of the series Dr. Miller says that this form of technologically integrated documentation is, at the moment, not as widely used as he thinks it will become in the future.  He says that eventually students will stop presenting information just on word processing documents.  He says that there will be a shift from the flat form of documenting to the more integrated form.  He also talks about some of the works he has been publishing on the interent and using YouTube to get them popularized.  He says that this is a way of pushing ideas into our culture and claims that it is a much more effective way of doing so.  Because within three months of posting some of his work to YouTube he had over nine thousand views as opposed to submitting something to a journal in print that would not surface online for another two years. He says that this is just the beginning and there is much more to come.

I would encourage everyone to watch these videos.  It is very exciting to see where the world of education and learning is going.  Dr. Miller says that this is possible but that there needs to be inspired teachers to push for this.  I am excited to take on that charge as a future educator.  Presenting information in this way is much more engaging and appealing for everyone.  Why wouldn't the educational community be pushing for this and embracing it?  Like all things change takes time, plus it is exciting to be part of the movement. I know I will teach using integrated documentation and push my students to create and learn in the same fashion.

Carly Pugh's Blog Assignment 12 


Wow.  This is one impressive post.  You can tell that Carly worked really hard and put a lot of thought into this post.  I think her idea about making a YouTube playlist is great!  I watched Carly's playlist and thought it was great, very inspiring.  After reading her post it also inspired me to work a little harder and try to make my posts more informative.

In regards to what Dr. Miller talked about in his video's and comparing it to what Carly did in blog post 12 I feel is spot on!  I too am going to be an English teacher and my passion is in Literature.  I found a lot of the videos to be really helpful and I know that I will use them in my classroom.  I know that it is difficult to get teenagers interested in Literature but this is one way to make a good effort.  It makes a visually entertained audience exactly that, visually entertained while learning.  I think I will have a leg up in getting teens excited about Literature because I was one of those kids while in high school I just didn't get what the big deal was about writing and reading.  I thought it was all boring and didn't take much skill.  Needless to say, I was way wrong.  Knowing what I know now and using tools such as these I know I will be able to inspire and fifteen year old version of myself.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies  

In the video EDM310 for Dummies the students really show how it feels to be in this class.  In the beginning it is so frustrating having to figure out how to use all this new stuff.  It's very overwhelming at first, but with time everything smoothes out and you realize, "Yes, I have I brain, I am smart, and with help I can do this."  The video just shows you that you're not alone, feeling helpless, but there is hope!  You can be taught.  You will learn.  You will be better for it!

The Chipper series is a series of clips in the life of a student, Chipper.  In the video she starts as a student in EDM310 who puts off her work.  Then becomes frustrated because she isn't doing the work and is getting bad grades.  Then she opens a failed pilots school, gets a degree online, gets a job as a teacher, gets fired for not coming to school, gets another job as a waitress, and gets fired again.  Then she tries to get a job as a nanny, fails at that and then lands on becoming a garbage collector.  She finally decides to take school seriously in the end, get her masters degree and stop procrastinating.  The point of the video is don't be lazy and do it right the first time.  At least that's what I think.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn  


This is another video enforcing the fact that technology has a significant role in the classroom of today and of the future.  The video talks about how the way things have been done in schools for the past hundred years has to change because our world has changed.  The job market is not catered to teaching excelling on standardized tests.  The job market tests a students ability to adapt, create, collaboriate, and live in a ever changing society.

This video really encapsulates what it is that we are learning through this course of study in EDM310.  It is good to know that educators coming out of the University of South Alabama have no choice but to be technologically literate.  That they will be encouraged to use networked learning in their classrooms because it is how we will learn from this point forward.  I thought this video was great.  I know I will watch it more than once in the future.  


    

Project 10 - PLN

Let's start by defining what is a PLN.  A PLN is an acronym for Personal Learning Network. It is the tools you use for help, reference, collaboration, inspiration, and other assistance.  We have been encouraged to develop a strong PLN in EDM310 and have been provided a number of opportunities to develop a strong PLN.  One of the biggest tools that I am currently using is Twitter. When I first started using twitter I just used it for personal reasons and never thought it would ever benefit me in my professional life.  Man was I wrong about that one.  There are so many ways people use twitter in the education community.  I also be sure to look for and follow all of the assigned teachers for our C4T projects.  I currently am not using Symabloo or any other site to have my PLN on one page.  Like I said I use twitter and any of the blogs that I want to follow I follow on Blogger or save them in Google Chrome as a favorite and they are all listed on my home screen.  I would say that my PLN is still a work in progress.  But, then again, it probably always will be there will never be a time when I will want to cease learning and growing.  An expanding PLN is and always will be part of that process.  

Project 9b - Timetoast

The Novels of Ernest Hemingway

Blog Assignment 7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

If you do anything, ever, please watch this YouTube video! I could not have been more wrong about what I thought this video was going to be.  Let me explain.  Before watching this video I had read Randy Pausch's book "The Last Lecture." My thoughts on the book although sympathetic were not very cordial to be frank.  To further explain this let me give some background.  Dr. Pausch was a great teacher in the field of computer science, specializing in virtual reality. In 2008, the year in which he died, Dr. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  This is the most deadly form of the disease.  He was basically given about three to six months of healthy living before things would take a turn for the worse and he would inevitably die.  So, for his children to have something to remember him by he gave and wrote "The Last Lecture," appropriately titled because he was a professor.

Like I said, don't think I'm a heartless jerk, I was very sympathetic to the situation.  I know that everyone has a family member that has been victim to cancer in one form or another, I have.  But, after reading the book I thought I had been dooped.  Here is, supposedly, this book that would tug at my heart strings and reveil these unknown truths about the universe.  I was supposed to be blown away.  I was not.  He refers to this in the video, but he confesses his arrogance.  It comes off as a self-depreciating joke in the video, but in the book it comes across, to me, as arrogance.  He also talks about "head-fake" teaching.  Which refers to teaching without someone knowing they are being taught.  It's a "head-fake."  I thought I had been head-faked when I read the book, but not that I was taught something but almost like I had been played.  I thought, here's this guy playing to the emotions of the public and putting out this book where basically all he talks about is how great he was.  His advice came across as, and I'm using artistic license here, "I got it(life) right.  Look at me and how smart I am.  Do it my way or you'll be wrong."

Now, about this, after watching the video I feel like I was proved wrong.  He was sincere and humble in the video.  He gave credit where it was due.  It was touching.  Maybe this is because I could see him, hear his inflection, and he was real.  Let me say this, I could not have been more wrong about how I perceived the book.  In my wrap up blog from C4T there is a blog about perception by Justin Tarte called "What do you see...?" read it.  My perception was off the mark when I was reading and after I had read the book.

What Dr. Pausch was doing was leaving something behind for his family, his legacy.  Now, could this have been left alone in a letter to his children and just have had the video to go along with it?  Wouldn't that have been enough for them?  I say yes.  But he wrote a book and sold it, and made a lot of money for his family. I thought this was a little cheap, playing the emotional card.  I mean thousands of people die from cancer and don't publish books about how great they were and what they had learned from life.  But to his credit, he is a smart guy, he did play the emotional card and he did have a lot of good advice to give.  Now, to Forrest Gump's eternal credit, his family can say "we don't have to worry about money no more.  And I said, 'That's good! One less thing.'"

All that being said, watch the video.  It'll change your life.   

C4T post 2

Justin Tart : High Expectations

In my second round of C4T I was assigned Justin Tart's - "Life of an Educator..." blog. It appears he is a first year administrator. In his blog post "High Expectations" he talks about the expectations we place on students. He poses the question "if or whether we should personalize our expectations of our students. Should we 'standardize' high expectations and expect all students to follow the same set of expectations, or should we "personalize" the expectations to meet our students at their own individual levels and abilities...?" He then gives an example of two students, one from a stable home with two supportive parents and another from a broken home where support is absent. He asks if it's fair to hold these students to the same standard. Or should we personalize the expectations to meet the needs of the individual student at their current levels. He does not really offer an opinion on the matter but just simply asks "What do you think?"

My comment: "Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not yet a teacher, but I am studying to be one. The thought of where my expectations should fall for my students is provoking. After reading some of the other comments I'd tend to agree that high expectations should be set for all students. I don't necessarily think it's realistic to believe that they can all reach a uniform requirement of expectation. Individually harvest knowledge in them to the best of your ability and hopefully have that manifest into a positive product."

The second of Justin Tart's blog posts I commented on was titled "What do you see... ?"  The blog was mainly just a bunch of questions about the daily goings-on of a teacher and how they are perceived by each individual teacher.  For example, he proses a question about lunch duty.  He asks if the teacher sees it as just another part of the job or as an opportunity to work on student-teacher relationships.  He also provides many more questions about perceptions of the job of an educator, either about the mundane duties of a teacher or about the challenging problems teachers face.

I really liked this blog post.  I made a copy of the text for when I start teaching just to remind myself that there are plenty of chances to take a negative situation and make it a positive one.  It also encouraged me to make the most out of every opportunity no matter the situation.  Because this post was just mainly a list of questions for actual educators to ponder over it didn't really leave me much room for comment as I am not currently an employed educator and I don't have any life experience to reflect upon in order to provide any insight to the subject.  Nevertheless, my comment is posted below.

"This is a great reminder of how to continually keep a fresh look at perspective.  I know that I will read this again in the future to make sure mine stays refreshed and that I stay focused. "  

Blog Assignment 6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler 

This video is about how he modern day student is more connected to different outlets of learning than they ever have been.  This is due to the advancements in the world of technology and the advancements in the world of education.  Educators are sharing their knowledge on a whole new medium.  Whether it is through using a blog, podcasts, YouTube, or iTunes U.  This makes it possible for students to make a learning network, which is a place the student can go for reliable sources of information. The video talks about how it is the teachers responsibility to help guide the student in this process of building a personal learning network, or PLN.  The video also poses the question: "Why does a networked student even need a teacher?"

I found this video to be very interesting.  When the question about whether or not a networked student needs a teacher is brought up it made me think.  At first I thought, well, I guess not.  But after thinking about it for a few seconds I thought, well, absolutely.  Think about it, suppose there were no teachers, who would be building the content of the PLN?  Also, there needs to be someone to monitor what information is being processed by the student.  I thought the use of the phrase "information concierge" for teacher was a good one.

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment (or PLE) 

In this video an anonymous seventh grader talkes about her personal learning environment.  She refers to this process as networked learning and how she goes about cultivating her PLE.  She has all of her information that she has gathered from all over the internet for her science class on one personal page.  She also has her personal things on the same page, like her favorite music, movies, websites, and other downloads.  I thought this was great because the page serves a dual purpose and it encourages learning to be part of life, as opposed to only learning in school.  She also talks about some of the projects she has worked on.  She talkes about using Google Docs, Evernote, Presentation, and a Glogster.  A glogster is a digital poster.  She then talks about how she really likes to learn using networked learning.  She says that she gets more freedom to learn how she would like, and that the freedom encourages responsibility.

In comparison to this 7th grade students PLE my PLN is not even close.  It has encouraged me to do more research and increase my PLN.  I am very glad that I am able to take this class so I can learn more about network learning so I can use that when I teach.  Even though I am planning on teaching English I know that technology will play a major role in my teaching.

Podcast - Team Gryffindor